Machine for maneuvering elevators



June 21, 1960 Filed June 29, 1956 A. J. DE ANDRADE souzA 2,941,625

MACHINE FOR MANEUVERING ELEVATORS 5 Sheets-Sheet '1 4/ 1 K9 if V /j A 16 [XI 1% INVENTOR Z ide izfi'awzw BY 5% V June 21, 1960 A. J. DE ANDRADE SOUZA 2,941,625

momma: FOR MANEUVERING ELEVATORS Filed June 29, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR June 21, 1960 A. J. DE ANDRADE SOUZA 2,941,625

MACHINE FOR MANEUVERING ELEVATORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 29, 1956 INVENTOR A Jdedtiazzz ORNEY electric current is still available. 'qualified'person was then required in the engine space "or elsewhere to check the cause of the failure and cerf tain types :Of elevators even require highly specialized personnel to'repair and set the elevator back in service. Since the alarm may be sounded by the passengers,

service. isonnelmust ascertainthe exact position of the elevator United Stat Patent 7 MACHINE FOR MANEUVERIN'G ELEVATORS Arthur Jadir de Andrade Souza, Rua Manoel Leitao 8, Apt. 301, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Filed June 29, 1956, Ser. No. 594,772

Claims priority, application Brazil July 7, 1955 7 Claims. (Cl. 187-42) If forany reason, such as a break or failure of the electric energy supply, the elevator car stops somewhere along the vertical shaft, it was heretofore necessary, in

"order to set it manually in motion, that the failure be jnoticed by someone on the" outside, or that an alarm be'sounded either vocally orby means of a bell if any The presence of a their own efforts, to reach a floor level, quickly and safely to thus leave the elevator without any outside help.

it is obvious that this will not always be perceived and noticed, if one considers the possibility of anaccident during off hours or in the case of fire. 'It is also to be considered that the person who is to repair the elevator much reach the engine space which isgenerally not easily accessible, particularly when all the cars are also out of One has to consider also that the repair percar-inside the shaft, and the number of passengers imprisoned therein, in order to estimate whether or not weight. Depending on this total weight, the car must be moved upwards or downwards. All of this may have to be effected with difiicul-ty, the communication between the passengers and the repair crew to maneuver the car being made possible only by means of signals and knocks, or vocally. One must still consider that the crew which must maneuver the car must reach the engine space or room which is difficult, chiefly when all other cars are also inoperative. must work the brake releaser manually, and at the same time must work the motor of the elevator by means of "a crank which is inserted in the motor shaft, or by any side of the stalled car, and with such simplicity that any passenger without the least difiiculty may' operate it the total weight of the car exceeds that of the counter- In the engine room, the repair crew However, in the case of children, or panic-stricken passengets, the elevator'car may be controlled from the outconvenient location. This invention will also prove use- Patented June 21,

2 ful in case of fire, when an emptyelevator car is tobe': moved along its shaft.

The fact that according to the invention the move-l ment of the car may be effected by the passengers themselves with ease with the least possible delay and without any external help, is of paramount convenience and importance, in cases of fire or in the absence of skilled or specialized personnel at the moment, .in which cases fatal accidents might result.

A further object of the present invention is to pro-" vide mechanism as a brake releaser operating unit, a connecting unit, a mechanical propelling unit, an automatic clutch unit and an electric propelling unit. This latter may include some parts of the mechanical propelling unit. Although the brake releaser operating unit may, obviously, make the car move as ctuated by grav ity, it is evident that such course of action is dangerous apart from the limiting movement of the car, which may only travel itself in the direction of the pull of gravity, according to whether its weight exceeds or does not exceed that of the counterweight. A perfect and safe operation which sets the car in motion from any position whatsoever irrespective of where the failure occurred, and with the choice of up or down movement, in accordance with the will of the operator, can only be achieved, however, with the utilization of all the men-' tioned units, excepting the electric propelling unit, which is provided to save the effort of the operator or to increase the velocity of movement of the elevator car and which is not absolutely essential.

The brake releaser operating unit may consist of any of the usual means of transmissions with linear move ment, the operating forces thereof being provided on a movable base, (the elevator car), and wherein said force may be applied to the transmission'from :any point from said base. Therefore, it may consist of a hydraulic pressure unit wherein the operator from the inside the car actuates a lever connected to a hydraulic pressure cyl inder, which latter may be located on the exterior wall or under the floor of the car.' The resulting hydraulic pressure is then transmitted through a pipe to a second cylinder located in the engine space, said cylinder erating another lever which will operate the brake releaser. J 1

The unit may also consist of a flexible cable confined inside of a flexible conduit and when the operator o'p erates a lever inside the elevator car, said. lever displaces the interior cable connected therewith, and thus produc ing at the other end of the cable a corresponding move ment which will be transmitted to another lever to:a'c+' tuate the brake releaser. The ends of the condu-itar'e fixed to the car and to the engine space and it follows adjacent the electric cable of the elevator. I

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cable vertically extended along'the shaft of theLele-i vator, attached at its lower end to the bottom of said shaft, and its upper end provided with a rod and stretched by means of a strong spring.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanical propelling unit consisting of a crank situated inside of the elevator car, which by means of a shaft" to en gage and operate a chain. The chain extendsalong'the shaft of the elevator. By the movement of the chain the latter turns a shaft which sets gears in motion 1 1lti-. mately connected to the motor of the elevator by means, of the connecting ring. Said gears comprise a selector so that the car may be raised or lowered in accordance with the will of the operator. I q

A further object resides inthe provision "of the auto matic clutch unit to automatically throw outlof the mechanical propelling unit when ,a sudden 'reeesta'bf lishment of the electric energy, during the 'op eratiow'c'f the machine, again places the motor of the elevator in operative condition thus making the operation of the machine unnecessary. The clutch unit consists of an electromagnet which, at the moment the mechanical propelling'unit is engaged to the operating motor, is connected by means of an electric switch to the electric circuit which normally feeds the motor of the elevator. When energy is re-established in this circuit, the electromagnet on receiving said energy, is actuated, thereby attracting a movable piece which will operate levers, thus immediately setting the clutch free.

Further objects will be apparent from the .following .description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows the electric unit and such parts of the mechanical unit necessary for the operation of the elevator,

. Figs. 3, 4 and are side elevations, partly in section of the detail illustrating the operation of the connecting ring or means in which in Fig. 3 the parts are disconnected, in Fig. 4 the parts are connected and in Fig. 5 the ring is connected and the clutch disconnected,

Fig. 6 is a side elevation partly in section of the brake releasing means,

Fig. 7 is an end view partly in section of a detail,

. Fig. 8 is a side view partly in section of the operating crank and its connecting members, and

,Fig. 9 is a side view partly in section of a modified brake releaser operating unit.

.In the drawings, 1 represents the motor of the elevator 2 the driving shaft, 3 the brake, 4 the casing of the brake releaser, 5 the hydraulic cylinder for the brake releaser, 6 the hydraulic cylinder for the connecting ring, 7 pipe connection, '8 pipe connection, 9 brake releaser operating lever, 10 articulate lever, 11 crank, 12 gear case, 13 and 1-4 gears, 15 wall of car, 16 and 17. knobs, .18 and 19 return springs, 20 drive shaft, .21 drive shaft case, 22cases arm, 23 idle sprocket, 24 drive sprocket, 25 compression spring, 26 facets, 27 driving chain, 28 sprocket pulley, 29 shaft, 30 reduction gear, 31 shaft of clutch gears, 32 and 33 clutch gears, 34 and 35 selastic pressure flaps, 36 reduction gears, 37 clutch shafts, 38 master gear wheel, 39 flywheel shaft, 40 flywheel, 41 clutch plate, 42 connecting ring, 43 and 44 connecting gear wheels, 45 fork lever of connecting ring, .46 return spring, 47 clutch pulley, 48 and 49 articulate levers, :50 and 51 articulate levers, 52 electric'wiring, 53 electrickey operable by 54, 5'4 hydraulic pipe derivation from 8, 55 drum pulley of elevator cables, 56 armature, 57 electromagnet, 58 retractible pins, 59 flange of brake wheel, 60 brake shoe, 61 brake lining, 62 hinge, 63 and springs, 65 and 66 levers, 67 gripping head, 68 arm Gtelescope), 69 .piston rod, 70 knob, 71 crank connector, 72 pivot, 73 actuating pulley, 74 and 75 idle pulleys, 76 tension spring, 77, 78, 79 and 80 articulate levers, 81 lever, .82 cable, 83 reduction gears, 84 and 85 clutch gears, 86 and 87 shafts, 88 and 89 electric motors, 90 electric battery, 91 electric control switch, 92 connecting ring operating lever, 93 and 94 hydraulic cylinder for the brake releaser, 95 the gear wheel, 96 and 97 electric wiring, :98'and 99 return springs and 100 extension of lever 9a. What normally occurs when'the motor of an elevator atalls'is that thebrake releaser 4 is automatically put out of-nction, thus allowing the brake 3 to halt and stall the elevator car.

'By 'the'present invention, the operator, if located in the interior of the stalled elevator car actuates the control 92 ,which actuates the piston in cylinder 94 so that 4 laterally over the connecting gear wheel 43, thus effecting a connection between the stalled motor and the machine, through the gear wheels 43 and '44, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The operator will then operate the brake releaser 4 by means of control 9 which will produce a pressure force on the master cylinder 93, and consequently, through pipe 7, a corresponding pressure force in cylinder 5, which as shown in Fig. 6, will operate the levers 6S and 66, thus rendering thebrakereleaser active. The motor shaft will consequently be allowed to turn in dependence with the movement transmitted thereto by the machine.

The mechanical propelling unit is then operated by the operator as follows: From an appropriate location in the wall of the elevator car a crank is produced and inserted in the end key or square portion 71, Fig. 8. Upon turning said crank 11 the gear wheels 14 and 13 will be rotatedand since the lattergear is mounted on the driving shaft 20, the latter is rotated. However, said shaft 20 is mounted in its covering case 21 by means of the compression spring 25 as is more clearly shown in Fig. 7 and the compression spring contacts shaft 20 on a cylindrical section which is cut with facets or flat surfaces in order to present a better grip to the compression spring. The internal wall of the casing 21 is similarly faceted if desired. On both the shaft 20 and its case 21, being rotated about 90, the knob 70 on the casing 21 will contact either knob 16 or knob 17, according to the direction of rotation of the shaft and its casing. Thus limited, the rotation of the casing 21 will coincide .with the correct positioning of sprocket wheels 23 and 24, the former being idly situated on the extremity of the arm 22 and the latter being mounted on the extremity of the driving shaft 20. It is evident that the force applied to the crank will easily overcome the compressing action of spring 25 and therefore driving shaft 20 will proceed to rotate freely inside its casing. It will be observed that the cover or casing 21 will be normally maintained in such a position as to allow the driving chain 27 to pass freely between the two sprocket wheels 23 and 24, as the elevator car is normally running and functioning, and it will be safely maintained in this position by means of springs 18 and 19. When, however, turned about 90 by means of the operation of the crank, the relatively small resistance of these springs 18 and 19 will be overcome, and on said operation ceasing, ,said springs will immediately bring the casing .21 back to its normal position, thus disengaging sprocket wheels .23 and 24 from the driving chain 27.

The action of the sprocket wheel 24 on the driving chain 27 will rotate the sprocket wheel 28, and this sprocket wheel communicates such movement, through gear 29, and gear wheels 30 to the axle or shaft 31;. According to the direction of rotation of the crank 11,, the axle 31 will turn clockwise or counterclockwise, and thus one of the two clutch gears 32 or 33, which are mounted on .saidshaft 31 in opposition to each other, will advance longitudinally along the shaft 31 and will engage gear wheel 95. The clutch gear 32 or 33 will thus act as a selector of the direction of rotation. Upon one of the clutch gears 32 or 33 engaging the gear wheel 95, the movement will be communicated to the master gear wheel 38 through the speed reduction gear wheels 36 and the master gear wheel 38 will rotate the shaft 39 of the flywheel 40, which is connected with the clutch plate 41 by means of the engaging pins 58. The clutch plate 41 is mounted on the clutch shaft 37 on which, the gear wheel 44-ts also mounted. The flywheel 40 receiving rotation from its shaft 39 and as already .mentioned, being connected with and to the clutch plate ;41, communicates said rotation through said plate and its'shaft 37 to the gear wheel 44, which being linked byrmeans ofthe connecting ring 42 to the connecting'gearwheel 43 mounted on theshaft 39 of the motor of the elevator, forces said motor to turn in a direction corresponding ;to

the direction of rotation of the crank 11, to thereby raise or lower the elevator car in accordance with the will of the operator.

The electric propelling unit may function as follows: After the connection between the stalled motor of the elevator and the machine is made and after the brake releaser is actuated, the operator, on pressing one of the two electric control buttons in control switch 91, situated inside the car of the elevator, according to whether he wishes to raise or lower the elevator, will cause the closing of the electric circuit comprising either the wiring 96 or 97, as the case might be, thus permitting the electric current from the battery 90 to be applied to one of the electric motors 88 or 89. Since said motors have different directions of rotation, they will cause their respective clutch gear mounting shafts 86 or 87 to rotate in one direction or the other. When one of said shafts is rotating, the clutch gear mounted thereon will be shifted so as to engage the gear wheel 83, transmitting thereto the rotation of its corresponding electric motor. Said gear 83 will then cause the rotation of the flywheel 40 and therefore the rotation of the motor of the elevator.

Since these electric motors have a considerable potential, a too abrupt start of the motor of the elevator would be caused on their being actuated, were it not for the fact that the master gear wheel 38 will also be rotated and therefore will cause all speed reduction gear wheels 36 to rotate, and thus it is evident that on overcoming the inertia of said wheels, the initial pull of the electric motor will be adequately weakened.

In the automatic clutch unit; when the operator operates the connecting unit, the pressure force transmitted through pipe 8 isalso distributed to pipe 54, to thus turn on the electric switch 53, to thereby close the circuit comprised by the external wires 52, which is dead at the moment, the wires 52a and 52b and the electromagnet 57. From this moment on any re-establishment of the external energy which normally feeds the motor of the elevator, will also act so that the electromagnet will function. When said electromagnet is actuated, it will attract the armature 56, consequently actuating the levers '48 and 49 which are connected with the forks 50 and 51, which latter extend in the grooved cradle pulley 47 which is mounted on the shaft 37. The action of the electromagnet 57 will thus force from it said shaft 37 which will be shifted inside the shaft 39. Since the shaft 37 has the clutch plate 41, mounted thereon, the latter is also shifted away from the electromagnet 57 and consequently from flywheel 40, and therefore, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, the projecting pins 58 are pulled out from their sockets in the flywheel 40, thus disengaging plate 41 from flywheel 40. In consequence, flywheel 40 will turn freely, while the assembly, plate 41, shaft 37, gear wheel 44 (which is also mounted on shaft 37) stops naturally.

Should the electric current fail again, electromagnet 57 will release armature 56 which, by means of its return spring 98 and 99 will take its normal position, causing plate 41 to re-engage flywheel 40 by means of its pins 58, which are retractible and provided with internal return springs. It is obvious that the automatic clutch unit may operate with any of the two propelling units, i.e. the mechanical or the electrical one.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the controls mounted inside the elevator car may also be mounted externally relative to the shaft of the elevator, and through a wall, thus making it possible for the operation of the mechanism from any convenient location, such as the entrance lobby of the building. To fully understand this modification one has only to consider the vertical wall 15 of the car of the elevator as being the wall separating the lobby of the building from the shaft of the elevator, crank 11 in this case projecting itself in the outside, into the lobby.

Referring to Fig. 9 there is illustrated a modification of the brake'releaser operating unit with'its propelling unit showing in detail the brake releaser 4 in cooperation with the shaft 2 of the motor and the brake 3. A cable extends vertically along or adjacent the shaft of the elevator car and is attached at its lower end to the bottom of the shaft of the elevator with the upper end provided With a rod section 81. A strong tension spring 76 is secured to the rod 81 and to the top of the elevator shaft, as shown in Fig. 1. A pulley 73 is mountedon a lever of the brake releaser handle or operator 9 pivoted on the elevator and this pulley is adjacent to though not necessarily in contact with the cable. The pulley is mounted on a right angle lever extension 100 which is outside of the elevator with the control lever end 9 on the inside of the elevator. When the control lever 9a is actuated by means of a pull of the operator to the dot and dash line position, the pulley 73 is forced against the cable 82 to thereby force the cable out of a straight line and overcoming the force of the spring 76. As a result thereof the rod 81 is pulled downward a slight distance to cause the brake releaser 4 to be actuated. by means of the levers 77, 78 and 80 to the dot and dash line. positions. To facilitate the bending of the cable spaced pulleys 74 and 75 may be suitably secured to the elevator car by brackets and thus an appreciable distortion of the cable 82 may be achieved for actuation of the brake releaser.

I claim as my invention:

1. Mechanism for raising or lowering a stalled or inoperative motor driven elevator having a brake releaser and means connected to and operable fro-m the inside of the elevator to actuate the brake releaser to permit the elevator to be raised or lowered by manual control and operation, said means comprising a driving shaft from the motor, a lever provided on the inside of the elevator, a hydraulic cylinder provided on the outside of the elevator and with the lever connected to the cylinder, brake shoes, a hydraulic pipe connection and a second cylinder with the pipe connecting said hydraulic cylinder to the second cylinder situated near the driving shaft of the motor of the elevator, said second-mentioned cylinder being mechanically connected to the brake releaser so that when said second-mentioned cylinder is actuated by the hydraulic pressure transmitted to it by the first-mentioned cylinder it presses together, one towards the other, and levers for the brake releaser thereby actuating said brake releaser by separating the brake shoes to allow the shaft of the motor of the elevator to rotate.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1, including a selector of direction or rotation comprising an axle with two clutch gears mounted thereon in opposition to each other to be selectively connected with the intermeshing gears as one of said clutch gears advances along its axle according to the direction of rotation imparted to said axle.

3. Mechanism for raising or lowering a stalled or inoperative motor driven elevator having a. brake releaser and means connected to and operable from the inside of the elevator to actuate the brake releaser to permit the elevator to be raised or lowered by manual control and operation, said means comprising a driving shaft from the motor, a lever provided on the inside of the elevator, a hydraulic cylinder provided on the outside of the elevator and with the lever connected to the cylinder, brake shoes, a hydraulic p-ipe connection and a second cylinder with the pipe connecting said hydraulic cylinder to the second cylinder situated near the driving shaft of the motor of the elevator, said second-mentioned cylinder being mechanically connected to the brake releaser so that when said second-mentioned cylinder is actuated by the hydraulic pressure transmitted to it by the first-mentioned cylinder it presses together, one towards the other, levers for the brake releaser thereby actuating said brake releaser by separating the brake shoes to allow the shaft of the motor of the elevator to rotate, a chain vertically disposed in and along the shaft of the elevator, a sprocket wheel at the top and at the bottom of said shaft around which 7 the'chain passes, and'means mounted in the car of the elevator: and operable to mesh with said chain to move thecar.

4. aMechanism according; to claim 3, in which said means mounted in the car of the elevator include a: crank situated. inside the car and a crank operated shaft projecting outside the car and mounting a drivingsprocket'main tained out of. mesh from said chain by means of at least one spring and so that when the force of said spring is overcome by manual. rotation. of the crank and shaft, the sprocket meshes with said chain which is brought into contact with said sprocket by means of an idle sprocket.

5. Mechanism accordingv toclaim. 3, in which said idlesprocket. is mounted on av casing, said casing enclosing said driving shaft androtating therewith by means of a compression spring, said idle sprocket being mounted so that its axis and faces-are parallel to the axis and: faces of;.the driving sprocket, and being situated on the side of the, chain opposite. to the driving sprocket and being so situated that, on.rotation of said casing, said idle sprocket engages the chain, when said chain acts as a stopper to the rotation of the casing, overcoming the pressure of said compression spring;. thereby allowing the driving shaft to rotate freely inside said casing.

- 6. Mechanism,. according to claim 3;. in which the movement of the chain istransmittedithroughia sprocket situated at the top of the shaft of the elevator and which stretches said. chain, to] a plurality of intermeshing gears which are provided connected to a connecting gear situated on the same axis, parallel and adjacent, with a second connecting gear mounted on the driving shaft of the motor of the elevator.

' 7. Mechanism according to claim 3, in which the movement of. the chain is transmitted through a sprocket situatedat the top of the shaft of the elevator and: which stretches said chain to a plurality of int'ermeshing gears which are provided connected to a connecting gear situated on the same axis, parallel and adjacent, with a second connecting gear mounted on the driving shaft of the motor of theelevator, the connection between both said connect References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 131,896 Otis Oct.- 1, 1872 416,983 Baldwin Dec. 10, 1889' 929342 Sturm July 27, 1909 

